could soothe her like Lucius, and if irritated, the sound of his voice could calm her. In short, he was the good genius of the nursery, at whose approach all trouble and vexation fled away.

Whether it is more interesting to record scenes of happiness than of sorrow, we will not stop to discusscertain it is, that truth now requires us, in the language of artists, to put out some of the lights of our picture.' Time, to our happy family, flew with untiring wing. Rational pursuits and domestic endearments occupied every hour; and Lucius had nearly attained his sixteenth year, when one of those fearful revolutions in trade, which sometimes deceive the calculations of the most cautious and experienced, extended its effects to his father. Far from apprehending the ruin which was to follow, and which, but for an unforeseen event, might have been averted, Mr Lloyd did not apprize his wife and son of his difficulties; and devoting himself to his affairs with an intensity which he could not endure, anxiety and fatigue brought on a fever, by which, in a few days, his life was terminated. There are sufferings of our nature of which the description seems but a mockery; of none more so, than the emotions of her, who, after years of friendship, confidence, and love, finds herself, while still in the very freshness and glow of her affections, a widow-that sad and helpless being, to whom, with all of disappointment and anguish that grief can ever know, is added the aggravation of loneliness! But Mrs Lloyd was a religious woman; and from the depths of her affliction looked up to Him, who, among the myriads of his creatures, could distinguish and comfort her.

In the first overwhelming shock of Mr Lloyd's death, every consideration but of his loss, was unthought of; and it was not till some time after, when an investigation

of his affairs took place, that it appeared there were large claims on the estate. Unused to business, and dismayed at her situation, Mrs Lloyd knew not what to do, or to whom to apply. She was emphatically alone; not only deprived of him, who in any situation would have been her chief delight on earth, but she was among strangers. Her parents had been dead many years. She had no brother, and her sisters were settled in a distant part of the Union, where she had herself resided previous to her marriage. During her short married life, she had been too happy in her own little family to seek much beyond it; and, satisfied with courteously returning the civilities with which she had been greeted on her arrival, she had scarcely more than a ceremonious intercourse with the world without. In the midst of her perplexities, a gentleman whom she slightly knew, as a connexion by marriage of her husband, offered his services. Considering it a kind interposition of Providence in her behalf, she committed everything to his guidance. Regarding him as entitled to advise, and supposing that his intentions must be honest, no one presumed to interfere; and thus, in a city where Mr Lloyd was well known and highly esteemed, his wife and children became the prey of a plausible villain. A forced sale was effected, though the creditors did not require it—when, on the contrary, almost without an exception, they were desirous of testifying their confidence in his integrity, by extending every favor to his widow. Under false representations, the unprincipled Whitby attained his object and erected his fortune on the wreck of Mr Lloyd's. Not until nearly all was gone, were his proceedings arrested; and, so specious were the pretexts under which he had conducted them, that no legal redress could be obtained. Mrs Lloyd, who was utterly ignorant of the fraud practised on others

as well as herself, and who was made to believe that the relinquishment of everything was necessary to the discharge of the debts, could have submitted without a murmur to her own privations for such a purpose; but that the humane intentions of the creditors should tend to their own injury, moved her deeply. Her little fortune was not involved in the destruction of her husband's; and, though a pittance compared with the condition from which she had been thus suddenly hurled, she determined to use it as much for the benefit of Lucius as of Frances. While I have a dollar,' thought she, 'that noble boy shall share it.'

Upon a calculation of her resources, though strongly impelled to return to her native city, she deemed it best to remain where she was, with the difference, however, of exchanging her liberal establishment for a small dwelling, the sole remnant of her husband's large possessions. In confirmation of her own convictions came the inclinations of Lucius, who revolted at the idea of appearing as a dependant among strangers. The death of his father had seemed, for a time, to stun him. Retreating into the sanctuary of his grief, he sought no sympathy; and, though more tender and respectful than ever to his mother, he shrunk from all communion in his sorrow even with her. It was when some person remarked in his presence, that he had seen Mr Lloyd's watch in the possession of Whitby, that he first found utterance. Contempt at the meanness of the villany practised upon them, the least among the feelings which absorbed him, was the only one he could express.

The period appointed for their removal arrived; and Lucius, anxious to sustain his mother, nerved himself for the trial. The elegant decorations of the house had long disappeared; but every room was consecrated by associations dearer than all that wealth could give.

After a farewell look at every part of the spacious mansion, the little library in which she had always received her husband in the evening on his return from the countinghouse, where he usually took what he called his Englishman's supper,' and the room in which she had first heard the sound of her infant's voice, were the spots from which she found it most difficult to tear herself. Again and again returning with her little girl in her arms for a last glance, at length, with a hurried step, as not daring to trust her resolution, she entered the carriage which was to convey her to her new home. 'Where is Master Lucius?' asked she, as she ascended.

'In the garden, Mistress,' replied the footman, who, though no longer in her service, had begged to be permitted to attend her to her dwelling, and to assist in its arrangement; 'in the garden, Mistress.'

Mrs Lloyd readily comprehended, that, amidst all which he was obliged to surrender, the grave of poor Favorite was not forgotten.

Finding herself at her humble residence, she was too wise and too virtuous to sink into inaction or despondency. Well aware that there is no situation in which the good and the busy cannot find some consolation and even happiness, and having a powerful incitement in her children, she resolutely entered on the duties of her new condition. Though reared with an affection which required of her little more than to enjoy the blessings by which she was surrounded, and most tenderly cherished by her husband, she had, nevertheless, in her rectitude and good sense, principles which could never be inert. Dividing between herself and Dorothy, her only remaining domestic, the cares of her little household, she shrunk not from her own portion of the labor. From her private funds she had purchased such of the simpler

articles of her late elegant furniture as were suited to her present style of living, confining herself to what was necessary, except that she could not forego the luxury of furnishing the little chamber of Lucius with a few of the choicest of those books which his father had so lavishly bestowed on him.

Having not much indeed to adjust, she was soon sufficiently settled to turn her thoughts to the destination of Lucius. Her affection for him, if different in kind from that which she felt for her own offspring, was little short of it in degree. To the interest with which, as her husband's child, she had at first regarded him, was added the attachment, and even respect, which a further developement of his character had induced; and now that by his father's death he was cast for the present on her assistance, and was in future to be the natural protector of her child, he became still dearer. Determined to fulfil, though at great personal sacrifices, her husband's wishes, she was hesitating how to communicate to him her designs, so as to avoid wounding his feelings by the suggestion that there could be any difference of interest between them, when he anticipated her intentions, and announced his relinquishment of a liberal education. The period of his entering college was at hand. She knew how assiduously his father had promoted his preparation for it, the satisfaction with which he had himself contemplated it, and she well understood how to estimate the sacrifice he was now making-but in vain she urged him to revoke his decision; she found him immoveable.

'I have now,' said he, 'no right to this indulgence. My obvious duty is to do that which will soonest enable me to support myself. If I can, therefore, obtain a situation with some respectable merchant, I will endeavour so to imitate my father's integrity and industry